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Darra W

Darra W

A freelance editor by trade, I read about 150 books/year for pleasure (mostly literary fiction, history/historical fiction, memoirs). Non-reading passions include my husband, art (I'm a quilter and fabric collage artist), music, the Northern California coast, college hoops, collecting "unusual" socks, yoga, and BASEBALL!

SF Bay area more »
  • member since August 12 2008

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Public Notes

  • Karen J

    Karen J says

    Hi Darra, I will be sure and let you know. Just going to read Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls first but it looks like a short read.

    posted 4 days ago. ( send a note )
  • Howard N

    Howard N says

    I haven't read "Too Close to Call," but I should. Toobin doesn't think the decision in that case was one of the Court's finer moments, does he?

    I'm thinking about going back and re-reading Woodward and Armstrong's "The Brethren," which I haven't looked at since about 1980. It would be interesting to compare their inside look at the Court thirty years ago with that of Toobin's.

    But first I'm going to read something light to take a break from the heavy stuff that I have been reading lately.

    How 'bout them Yanks?

    Later,
    HN

    posted 7 days ago. ( send a note )
  • Judy S

    Judy S says

    Okay Darra, will do. Was going to write one to you but will put it on there. Judy

    posted 7 days ago. ( send a note )
  • Garcon

    Garcon says

    Thanks Darra, Have a great weekend. Dave

    posted 10 days ago. ( send a note )
  • rebelreader

    rebelreader says

    Hey Darra,
    would you mind doing a review for both Girl in a Blue Dress, and Indifferent Stars Above? Both at your convenience. I think what I'm going to try to do is every week through the holidays, put out at least 1 fiction and 1 nonfiction review in hopes of stirring sales and helping customers with recommendations. So anytime between now and say mid-december???
    Much appreciated!

    posted 2 weeks ago. ( send a note )
  • rebelreader

    rebelreader says

    Did you notice that we have 523 books in common?! Hella lot!

    posted 2 weeks ago. ( send a note )
  • rebelreader

    rebelreader says

    Hey. Man I don't watch any TV either (except baseball of course!) and my husband is down for the count by 8:30, but you know with my meds I'm on, I'm down for the count not too much later. Those days of reading til 1 a.m. for me are OVER! I'm stuck with cramming on my days off when I have 900 other things to do. And I definitely don't have time to review my reads! God forbid, I think the last book I posted on here was "Shanghai Girls"!
    I love Lincecum too, but boys will be boys. I hope it's a lesson learned.
    Hey, this Chris Tusa guy friended me on Facebook and I ordered his novel. So if you want to read it, just borrow mine. I probably won't get to it for awhile, I'm commited (with deadlines, mind you) for several blurbs by mid-December.
    Thanks for coming to "Sweetsmoke" event. He really is a nice guy, his book has now been nominated for 3 different awards, and he's got a very unique voice.
    see ya, I'll let you know what I might like reviews on,

    posted 2 weeks ago. ( send a note )
  • rebelreader

    rebelreader says

    Darra,
    wow, you really keep up your Shelfari account! I don't think I've even been on mine for months! Can't quite figure out how to read the reviews that you've posted for individual books. Dimwitted book seller! How do you have TIME to read, keep your Shelfari up to date, AND write reviews for the books you like??? You have waaaay too much time on your hands. Let me know about "Indifferent Stars Above", I have a copy at home, looks really good.
    Would you be willing to write some reviews for 'nightstand'? Let me know.
    So, congrats on your Yankees! I thought about you during the series...not sure how I feel about them winning though. For some reason I was rooting for the Phillies, but they won last year, so I'm pretty cool with it.
    See ya next week. Do you think you can make it to "Sweetsmoke" event? I need bodies...

    posted 2 weeks ago. ( send a note )
  • Patti B

    Patti B says

    Hi Darra!

    No, I haven't read anything by him before. I was at the library and happened to see the Dickens book. They also had The Dante Club, so I picked that one up also. I'll enjoy reading two of his together, I think. You're right - people seem to think highly of his work. I hope I do! I'll let ya know how it goes.

    Hope your week is going well!

    posted 2 weeks ago. ( send a note )
  • Judy S

    Judy S says

    I think it's new but not really a biography. The captain of their ship Splendour supposedly spills his guts. So far it reads like a movie magazine or the Enquirer! I think I'd rather have read a biography. Caught my eye at the library when I was picking up five other books and grabbed it like a piece of Halloween candy.

    posted 3 weeks ago. ( send a note )
  • Deborah A

    Deborah A says

    Thank you so much for responding! Maybe I am choosing the wrong books - but maybe it's just me. I sure hope this passes soon! Happy Halloween!

    posted 3 weeks ago. ( send a note )
  • Deborah A

    Deborah A says

    Just wondering --- do you ever get to the point that nothing you read is good and you take a break? That is happening to me :-(

    posted 3 weeks ago. ( send a note )
  • Howard N

    Howard N says

    Darra,

    I don't know how the Series is going to turn out, but I do think that the two teams that are playing are the two best in MLB. That doesn't always happen. Its unfortunate that the weather is a factor. But what can one expect in late October -- early November in New York and Philadelphia?

    The Cardinals already had a good batting coach -- Hal McRae. Its unfortunate that he was let go so that Tony LaRussa can try to help McGwire burnish his tarnished reputation. Given LaRussa's gigantic ego and McGwire's desire to avoid the spotlight and his reticence to come clean, this story is not going to have a happy ending.

    Later,
    HN

    posted 3 weeks ago. ( send a note )
  • Howard N

    Howard N says

    Hi Darra,

    I think Pete Rose should be in the HOF. He holds several major league records including most base hits, which has to be one of the most significant of all. Banning him from the game should be sufficient punishment. Keeping him out of the HOF is going too far.

    I just finished reading DIAMOND, a book of short nonfiction articles about baseball written by the late Mark Harris. Harris was the author of one of the best baseball novels ever written -- BANG THE DRUMS SLOWLY. In DIAMOND he included two essays on Rose.

    Here is how he sums it up:

    "The baseball Hall of Fame is the hall of fame. It is not the Hall of Goodness, and indeed at one level the hall enshrines many men never so good-hearted as Rose.

    "Rose, whatever else he may have been, was never a race baiter -- and certainly never a pious fake grooming an image. He was who he was, a unified man inside and out....Fame and virtue are different things. I find it odd and unrealistic to hear the commissioner of baseball demand of Pete Rose that he be the unblemished hero history has not recorded since the legend of Caesar's wife."

    Well, I thought it was over last evening, but the Angels don't know how to quit. The weather sure isn't co-operating for this evening's game.

    Later,
    HN

    posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )
  • Micheline R

    Micheline R says

    I just discovered these messages ... takes me a while to familiarize myself with things, i.e. Facebook, etc.!
    Don't recall suggesting 84 Charring Cross Road to you. I did see the movie a while back with Ann Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins and it was wonderful. One of my favorite movies. You may want to rent it now that you've read the book.

    posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )
  • Micheline R

    Micheline R says

    Thanks! Thought I might as well put a picture in the blank space ...! Ha, ha. See you at the next book club meeting.

    posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )
  • Howard N

    Howard N says

    Darra,

    I would be interested to know what you think about the book on the Rocket when you finish it. The Cardinals experienced a somewhat similar situation with Mark McGwire. I wonder if either will ever be voted into the HOF?

    Later,
    H

    posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )
  • Judy S

    Judy S says

    Hi Darra, I'm doing fine. Thanks for asking. Taking PT now so I'm sore most of the time. The Warm Springs book is a memoir. I read another book about Warm Springs several years ago but I can't remember the name of it. Warm Springs is an interesting place to visit. We went there once in the 90's and you can see the room where he died while having his portrait painted. The artist was a Russian emigrant and her son has written a book about Russian aristocrats and their new lives after the Revoution. Very interesting.

    posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )
  • Howard N

    Howard N says

    Darra,

    Sorry that it has taken me so long to reply. Here are three books on westward migration that I would recommend -- all dealing with the most important year on the trail -- 1846:

    THE OREGON TRAIL -- Francis Parkman
    Parkman was a historian who actually traveled the trail in 1846 and then wrote about it. It is considered to be a classic. There is some political incorectness in his account, but it was written in the mid-19th century.

    THE YEAR OF DECISION, 1846 -- Bernard De Voto
    This is a very detailed account of the same year by a modern-day historian. Some, I'm sure, would find it slow-going. But historians give it a high rating.

    THE WAY WEST -- A.B. Guthrie, Jr.
    Guthrie was one of our very best Western novelists. This is his fictional account of westward migration in (what else?) 1846. It was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

    See you in Yankee Stadium. I'll be staying home.

    HN

    posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )
  • wurd nurd

    wurd nurd says

    Thanks for the compliment! I try to keep my reviews balanced, informative and entertaining, so the feedback lets me know I'm doing something right :D

    posted 2 months ago. ( send a note )


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